A 40-year-old race car that still thrills — Porsche 917 at speed.

Every once in a while, it soothes the car geek’s soul to watch one of the world’s finest racing machines tear around a road course at speed.

That’s what it’s like watching Porsche’s 917K on a recent run around the Monza track in Italy:

The 917 won at Le Mans in 1970 and 1971 and then became even more famous when Steve McQueen used the car in his racing film, “Le Mans.” Even by today’s standards, the 917 is brutally fast — it did zero to 124 mph in less than six seconds and had a top speed of more than 240 miles an hour.